The Marble Basin of Carrara

Where does all the snow on the mountains come from? You might think so when driving along the Autostrada A12 between Pisa and La Spezia in summer and looking up at the slopes of the Apuan Alps. Indeed, the quarries of Carrara look like a glacier from a distance. I visited the marble quarries in early November 2017 as a stopover on my Tuscany trip. It was a worthwhile detour to see where the raw material for Michelangelo's David came from, which I had previously visited at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.
Marble is quarried in three valleys located above Carrara: Torano, Fantiscritti, and Colonnata. The quarries in the middle valley, Fantiscritti, are the most accessible. Leave the motorway at Carrara and follow the signposts for 'Cave di Marmo', drive through Carrara, then uphill through the small village of Miseglia. About two kilometres further on you have reached your destination: the Fantiscritti parking lot. There is also a bus connection from Carrara.

On the way to the quarries, you pass the Ponti di Vara. It is worth stopping here for the first close look at the quarries. The two bridges were part of the Ferrovia Marmifera, which was used to transport the marble blocks through the valley and to the port. Nowadays, the marble is transported by trucks and the former railway line is an asphalted road.
In Fantiscritti you can choose between two tour operators: Carrara Marble Tour (to an open-pit quarry) and Marmo Tours (an underground gallery). …

I live in a town near Carrara and I visited the marble basins several times. There are exceptional landscapes that inspired artists of all centuries and miles and miles of 'white' mountains. Plus, the basins have a storical meaning due to the thousands of statue made of Carrara marble. The 'Michelangelo Basin' and the 'Fantiscritti Bridges' worth for sure a place in the World Heritage List